Things ive always wondered about model trains.

[Littlefoot14]

Ok, so ive finally gathered enough simple questions that its worth making a thread. All my locomotives are DC. Thanks for any help

1. Is there supposed to be an oily smell in the air when they run?

2. I run everything from Life-like to Genesis, and they all seem to have little sparks on the tracks, normal?

3. What are some fool proof things i can do to increase electrical pickup on diesels? I was thinking soldering a thin copper strip under the fuel tank that drags along the track, kindve like a fixed pantograph, but under the locomotive.

4. I have 2 Bachmann F9s, one has a pancake motor and runs ok, although a week puller. The other has a problem with the rear truck. It has like an inverted can motor as well. Is it possible that the wheels are lower then the bottom of the truck, as it sounds like its derailed, but its not. I can also hear it bottom out when it hits a crossing.

5. One of my Athearn BB AC4400s lights flicker. Usually they flicker when the voltage goes down, but the locomotive never slows.

 

[Espeefan]

Ok, so ive finally gathered enough simple questions that its worth making a thread. All my locomotives are DC. Thanks for any help

1. Is there supposed to be an oily smell in the air when they run?

2. I run everything from Life-like to Genesis, and they all seem to have little sparks on the tracks, normal?

3. What are some fool proof things i can do to increase electrical pickup on diesels? I was thinking soldering a thin copper strip under the fuel tank that drags along the track, kindve like a fixed pantograph, but under the locomotive.

4. I have 2 Bachmann F9s, one has a pancake motor and runs ok, although a week puller. The other has a problem with the rear truck. It has like an inverted can motor as well. Is it possible that the wheels are lower then the bottom of the truck, as it sounds like its derailed, but its not. I can also hear it bottom out when it hits a crossing.

5. One of my Athearn BB AC4400s lights flicker. Usually they flicker when the voltage goes down, but the locomotive never slows.

1: Common with Lionel when using smoke fluid. In your case probably the result of over lubrication. A good cleaning should take care of this. You probably have some oil on the motor commutator.

2: Arcing is a result of making and breaking contact, and sometimes of intermittent shorts. Clean your wheels & track, then see if it lessens or stops.

3: Tomar makes auxillary pickup shoes, but you really shouldn't need them with four axle diesels. Again, clean everything, and look to make sure all axles are live, that is to say picking up power. Some older models pick up from one rail on each truck. If you have any of these, extra pickup couldn't hurt, but I remember them from when I was a kid with my first HO set...they ran OK.

4: Can you post a pic of the F-9? Is your track flat or are you encountering this on grades? Some locos would drag over crossings, the Walthers S-1 being one such.

5: Clean the wheels. Flickering headlights are a sure sign of dirty track and wheels. The model's flywheels are preventing any slowdown.

Cheers!

 

[LoudMusic]

I would agree - it appears the bulk of your frustration comes from dirty rails and wheels.

We have a variety of track cleaning cars at my local club. Most just have an abrasive pad with extra weight that you can add to a train and drag it around the layout. But I've seen fancier ones with motors turning scrubbers and such to enhance the cleaning. Not sure if it's worth the extra complication, but it's neat. Some use a cleaning solution, some just drag the abrasive pad and scrape the filth from the rails.

Basic cleaning car
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/rib/rib6.htm

Bachmann tank car with cleaning pad
http://www.micromark.com/BACHMANN-H...N-On30-TRACK-OUR-CHOICE-OF-ROADNAME,9431.html

Atlas Track Cleaner with vacuum!
http://www.atlasrr.com/HOFreight/hotrackcleaningcar.htm

There is also this handy track cleaning 'eraser' block. It's much cheaper but requires a significant amount of elbow-grease. With the cleaning cars you can just add it to a train and let it run.

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Life-Like-All-Purpose-Track-Cleaner-p/433-1416.htm

For cleaning locomotive wheels there are a variety of tools as well. The ones I'm familiar with power the locomotive so that it essentially cleans itself. A 'car sized' block sits on the rails and transfers the power from the rails up to bristles on the top of the block where you set the locomotive.

This one is about 1/4 the size of the ones I've used in the past
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/trx/trx66602.htm

This one uses alligator clips to connect to power
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10082991



I guess it depends on your budget and the amount of cleaning you need to do. At the club I've strung together as many as four cleaning cars and made multiple passes through some areas. It's much easier than getting in there with a manual cleaning device and spending all day on thirty or forty feet of rail. But with your symptoms your layout could probably use a good cleaning. Choose your weapons and get to work
________
MONTANA MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

 

[Littlefoot14]

Thanks for the help so far, i have a track cleaning caboose, just need to buy fluid i guess.

Oh well, in the next Walthers order

 

[dave1905]

Get a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol (any drug store, watch out for rubbing alcohol it can have other stuff in it) or denatured alcohol (sold in the paint thinner section of a hardware store.

Wet a paper towel with alcohol and lay across the tracks. Put one truck of the diesel on the rail and the other on the towel, turn on the power and hold the engines to spin the wheels. You should see a big black steak on the paper towel where the gunk has come off the wheels. You can also wrap a piece of cloth around a scrap of 1x2 and soak it in alcohol then rub along the tops of the rails to remove gunk.

 

[Cjcrescent]

4. I have 2 Bachmann F9s, one has a pancake motor and runs ok, although a week puller. The other has a problem with the rear truck. It has like an inverted can motor as well. Is it possible that the wheels are lower then the bottom of the truck, as it sounds like its derailed, but its not. I can also hear it bottom out when it hits a crossing.

This is due to the flanges being too large. Some of Bachmann's stuff from Hong Kong didn't seem to follow any standards of any kind, NEM or NMRA. The result was flanges that even with code 100 rail, would bounce along the spikes. This was also a problem seen in some of the pre-Proto Life-Like products. Best solution is replacement. Next best is to turn down the flanges, which isn't easy on these types of diesels.